Howard's Date
by LDNatalie
Summary: Set in Series 3, after 'Party' The kiss on the roof has led to a date for Howard, but is it with the right person? One-shot, rated T.


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Hi! I am still working on my longer story, but I've been writing one-shots. I tend to focus on RPS, but I returned to Howince this weekend. I love reading everyone else's fics SO much, so I wanted to contribute too. Dedicated to all the lovely people on here, who make me fangirl with every gorgeous word! Please review! xx

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**_Saturday_  
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Howard woke-up to the noise of a milk-float, rolling over he scrunched up his eyes and peered about in the morning gloom for his watch. Finding it, and admiring the little trumpet hands he saw it was 4am. Groaning and rolling onto his back, Howard breathed out and saw his puff of air unfurl up to the ceiling. Cursing the central heating he pulled his duvet over his head and hummed to himself, imaging little musical notes appearing, keeping him warm.

Remembering the embarrassment that was the night before he made a face and closed his eyes, aiming to go back to sleep. However his traitorous memory had different ideas and images flicked through his mind.

The hideous humiliation of a birthday party, seeing everyone's shocked faces at his flailing confession during spin the bottle. Howard frowned and rolled over, but the images kept coming.

Him telling Vince they had sexual tension, something about deep, molten tension wasn't it? Falling off the roof and feeling something, something new and terrifyingly wonderful.

Then the fallout, the quick take-back of feelings and false smiles. He saw Chloe, sweetly agreeing to go on a date, for free this time she has joked, and feeling a sense of satisfaction as Vince's face changed, to something he didn't recognise, but made him feel better nevertheless.

Howard made himself stop this trail of thought. He resignedly got to his feet, looked for his slippers, which Vince charmingly referred to as his 'Jazzer Grandpop' ones and looked about for his dressing gown.

Pushing his hair out of his face he turned to the other side of the room, smiling to himself as he saw Vince, all curled up under the covers, his hand slightly touching his cheek. Vince suddenly moved, shifted and Howard moved back, wary of waking him. After seconds that felt like hours, Howard's heartbeat returned to normal and he tiptoed out of the room.

Opening the curtains and seeing the haze of fog reflected in the flickering streetlights Howard sipped his tea and thought about turning the radio on. He glanced to his right and saw his coat hanging up, he looked back quickly but he still remembered.

Oh. His date.

The sun had now started to rise and Howard felt sleepy again. Realising it was the weekend and he could go back to sleep he brightened, washed-up his mug carefully and stuck it on the mug-tree and hesitantly opened the door.

Vince had rolled over and was now facing the ceiling, one hand over his face and the other around his chest, as if cold. Howard adjusted the curtains, so they wouldn't let in light, and picked up his extra blanket and put it over Vince. Vince's little duvet cover of sequins were not match for ex-military use blankets.

After placing the blanket over Vince Howard watched him for a little while, before feeling silly and sliding back into bed, curling up his toes at the cold and burrowing his head into his pillow. His last thought was that he thought he could smell Vince's hairspray.

An hour later and Vince surfaced, sliding his feet under the covers at the cosy warmth. He sat up, rubbing his eyes and smiled at the blanket on top of him.

Howard.

Looking over and seeing Howard frown in his sleep he placed the blanket over Howard, tucking it in slightly, and danced from foot-to-foot. He blew a kiss at Howard's back and looked for his dressing gown. Finding it, and shimmying into the silk he remembered Howard's date and felt his heart sink.

The night began with Vince giving Howard a makeover as a birthday gift, explaining that the bouncy castle was really a present owed from before, and he had scampered about, debating colour wheels with Bollo and boring Naboo with talk of lowlights.

In the end Howard managed to get away with product in his hair, a new shirt and, with persuasion from Vince, a massage to loose some tension.

'Cause you've got so much Howard, you're like a coil, waiting to spring stress into everyone's shocked little faces'.

Howard had accepted, only remembering half-way through that he didn't like people to touch him.

Vince had insisted on walking him to the door of the shop, doing last-minute adjustments, musing his hair, making him swear on Jagger not to talk about Jazz.

'But she LIKES Jazz Vince', 'I had to PAY her to like it Howard'

Then, as Howard looked back he felt a pang.

Vince looked sort of lost in the doorway, and in a weird way he was. Vince wasn't usually left alone, waiting. He was always the one going out, with Howard waving goodbye.

This was the first time it has switched, and instead of feeling excited he just felt a bit confused and hollow. Vince leaned his cheek against the doorframe and did a little wave, looking so cute and small Howard wanted to turn back. But not knowing how to explain this to Vince he just did an awkward wave and turned around, only looking back when Vince had shut the door.

Howard felt sick with nerves, and felt suddenly very young waiting at the cinema door. Praying that he wouldn't be stood-up, and half praying that he would, he checked his watch and looked up, catching sight of Chloe and half-smiling.

It's surprising that she did show, because a mysterious person had called her earlier that day, and had left her completely bewildered.

'_Umm_' said an American accent, '_you know that man, the jazz guy, tall, likes to wear little buckets on his head_' she had waited, wondering where this was going, '_well he can't come tonight, because_' the man had paused and talked to someone else, '_why Vince? You didn't give me a reason'_ the man had sighed, '_sorry chick-flick, its cause's he's sick. Syphilis is a nasty disease. Did ya know a pigeon gave me it?_'

Chloe had sighed, hung-up the phone and picked up her bag. She had a date to go to, and pranksters weren't going to stop her. Yeah, she didn't like Howard so much, but that Shaman, his mate, now _there_ was a man who could handle a woman.

_**Monday **_

It was two days later, the afternoon, and Howard had just marched angrily out the shop, taking offence at Vince singing 'Fame!' at him when he came down the stairs ready for Jazzercise.

'I will have you know little man' he said, 'that legwarmers are scientifically proven to help circulation, and will help me maintain a high level' he bounced slightly on the spot and Vince tried to hold back a laugh, 'of jazz' he paused, making a face, '_danceness_'.

After Vince had collapsed laughing Howard tutted and left the shop in a dramatic huff.

Turning back to his magazine, now humming Flashdance, Vince didn't hear the little bell go, and he was surprised to see a shadow looming over him. It was Chloe, fluttering her hand in a wave and handing over a scarf.

'Howard forgot it' she explained, smiling prettily and looking around, as if for someone.

Vince frowned. 'Not here' he said.

He was sort of annoyed at Chloe, she ended up making trouble.

'Oh' she said carelessly, 'that's alright, just returning it'. She moved round the shop, picked up a locket and said 'Ooh, its pretty'.

Vince sighed, dragged his eyes up from his magazine. 'D'ya want me to tell Howard you want it as a gift or something?'

Chloe frowned, 'No, I mean' she said, smiling again, 'its very old, must be a lot of history. I wonder if that guy from last night, the_ magic_ one, could tell me'.

Vince was confused, who cared about the stupid history? 'Yeah, Naboo could, but he's out 'n all' he said, flicking his toy car along the shopfront and checking the time.

'Oh' said Chloe, sounding disappointed.

'Howard should be back in like 15 minutes' said Vince, trying to be polite but sounding like a sulky teen. Chloe made a face and it suddenly clicked. Vince knew that face, well not personally. But he had seen it, he stopped for a second, feeling nasty just thinking it, on the faces of people Howard tried to date. It was an embarrassed face, a not-knowing-how-to-say-no face. Howard always came on a bit strong, you needed to get to know him, let him be himself.

'Did the date not go well then?' said Vince, trying to sound casual but fading.

Chloe sighed and rested her arms on the till. 'Your fault' she said with a secret, sly smile.

'Mine?' Vince said, not understanding.

'Well, we were alright, chatting and that' she continued, 'but he kept going on about this Mike Mavis guy'

Vince nodded in sympathy, not wanting to correct her. God, it would be embarrassing enough to admit he knew she made a mistake.

'But then he went on-and-on about being at this zoo, and these made-up stories. It was _well _embarrassing'.

Vince's face flushed and he felt a sudden need to push her out of the shop. Why was she here anyway? She had given the scarf back.

Touching the scarf affectionately Vince dragged his attention back to Chloe who was still rambling on.

'And then yeah I thought, let's _just shut him up_, so I went in for the kiss yeah'.

Vince felt a flash of envy go through him, but he just bit his lip and nodded at her to continued, Chloe grinned.

'Anyway and it was alright, must be the Noir teaching school' she winked, 'until'. At this, Chloe finally paused and looked comfortable, 'he kinda did this _moan_' she pulled a face, 'and said something, and it was like, completely off-putting'.

Vince opened his mouth, but Naboo walked in through the shop, dinging the bell and sending Chloe into a pouting, hair-flicking frenzy. At Naboo's eye roll at her display it finally clicked and Vince grinned. But he still needed to know…he turned back but already Chloe was thrusting the locket into Naboo's' face, asking coyly for a history lesson.

Stepping back and looking out of the corner of his eye at Bollo Naboo nodded and grandly took her arm, promising her the 'stories of the Orient'.

Vince jumped up, nearly colliding with Bollo who kindly steadied him. Sighing as Chloe disappeared Vince sat back down, abandoning his magazine and resting his cheek on his hand.

The bell went again and Vince looked up, smiling as Howard came through the door, looking all tired, ruffled and cute. Wanting to give him a hug Vince just offered him tea, sweetly giving up his chair and venturing upstairs to get his mug.

Howard sat down, and then glanced to his right. He did a little gasp and made a noise of fear. If his scarf, was here…that meant…and she would have _told_.

Howard felt like running, if he was on that roof again he would have gladly jumped off. But as he saw Vince descend from the stairs, all tousled hair and his special smile reserved for him he changed his mind.

'So' he said' trying to be brave, 'Did…um Chloe come by?'

'Yeah, but she's with Naboo mate, think they're might be some shaman magic going on, if you know what I mean'. Vince tried to be matey, but he came off a little crazy. Howard smiled back gamely.

'Oh well can't win them all' he began, 'the Moon mojo doesn't work on everyone'.

Vince smiled to himself then picked up the scarf, standing up and putting it carefully round Howard's neck. Making sure it was just so, he looked down and saw Howard looking up at him and his breath caught. Looking back up and biting his lip he tried a casual laugh and pushed a curl behind Howard's ear, ruffling the surrounding hair and making sure the scarf was straight at the back.

Moving back he suddenly felt embarrassed and moved towards the door, thinking of some shopping-related emergency.

'Vince' said Howard suddenly, standing up. 'I'm really sorry if I've made you feel embarrassed'. He paused and looked down at his shoes, 'I didn't mean to, and I hope you can, you know, forget about it'.

Vince moved back round, frowning in confusion. Howard took this for anger and tried to explain, 'I'm sure it's just something, you know, left-over from last week, it will go in time' he smiled weakly, hoping Vince would understand.

'Last week?' said Vince quietly, trying to piece together what was going on.

'Yeah' said Howard, 'Its just a chemical thing, left-over feelings…of wanting to do stuff' he finished lamely, shuffling his foot and going to sit down, before changing his mind.

Vince felt his heart start to beat a little faster.

'Um Howard' he said, 'Chloe didn't tell me what happened, she was saying something about kissing you' he stopped, making himself not pull a face, 'but then Naboo came in and she got distracted by something shiny'.

Howard smiled in recognition of seeing this happen for himself many times, but then his smile froze on his face and he tried to back-out.

'Well that's really it Little Man' he said, laughing a little awkwardly.

Vince moved forwards, 'No its not' he said firmly, 'what happened?' Howard went pink and Vince kept talking, 'Did you bang noses?' he tried to think, 'did…she do something weird, some new technique?'

Howard went pinker and Vince racked his brains, 'Didn't you...' he thought suddenly, 'say something?' Howard went bright red and sat down.

'Ah' said Vince, 'I TOLD you not to talk about Jazz, its enough to put anyone off, I mean what a mood killer, all those little jazzy notes, ruining all the love vibes, Christ Howard'.

Howard stood up, looking frustrated. 'Look Vince' he said, 'I don't need to hear this from you, its your fault anyway, bewitching me, being around me all the time, filling my head with thoughts' Howard paused, breathily heaving and looking upset, 'and I couldn't help it, I kind of moaned your name okay? Okay?' he shouted, 'Now you know and you can go and laugh about it with everyone else. Poor old Howard Moon, the latest sucker for the Noir charm okay. Just don't do it near me'. Howard sort of rubbed his eyes at the last part and looked crushed.

Vince had a lump in his throat and he couldn't talk. His chest was all tight and he felt heartbroken.

'Howard' he said croakily, coughing then trying again, 'Howard, I don't, I wouldn't think that of you, okay?'

Howard was resting his head on his hands. Vince walked forwards and put his head down too, pushing Howard's arm with his head to make room. 'Howard' he whispered quietly, 'just talk to me okay, without all the shouting, tricks, jokes'.

Howard lifted his head slightly and Vince tucked his arm underneath him. Vince shifted his head so it was tilting sideways.

'Vince' said Howard, 'I don't know what to say anymore, I just feel embarrassed and very tired, can I just be alone for a bit'.

There was a silence. 'No' said Vince quietly, 'because I don't like being alone. I like being _with you_. I always have, you know that don't you?'

Howard murmured something and Vince moved, stroking Howard's head before resting his hand on his arm.

'You don't need to be embarrassed' he started, remembering his own embarrassing moment earlier that day; imagine thinking Fossil would be a good person to make that phonecall. Shaking his head slightly at the memory he continued, 'Chloe didn't care anyway'.

Howard shifted his head, so he was mimicking Vince. Vince looked into his eyes and relaxed.

'Howard' said Vince, feeling so incredibly nervous he thought he was either going to explode or faint. 'I sort of' he paused, 'love you'.

This time the silence rang out for longer and Vince counted the blinks. Howard had blinked 29 times before he spoke, sounding all shocked and adorable.

Are you having a joke Vince?' he whispered, not wanting to break the magic either. Vince leaned a little closer, counting Howard's eyelashes this time. He shoke his head slowly.

'No' he said softly. Howard nodded.

'So if you want to moan my name or whatever' said Vince, feeling brave, 'you can do that'. In spite of himself, and the hundreds of butterflies in his stomach Howard grinned.

'But' said Vince, realising what he said, 'I would rather it was for me, with me'.

Howard nodded again and moved to take Vince's hand, playing idly with his fingers.

'Maybe I should test you out' said Vince, 'try another date and see if it goes a bit better'. Howard smiled, 'Check my diary' he said grandly, making Vince laugh. Vince sat up a bit and found Howard's diary, a plain, black book with 'The thoughts and musings of Howard Moon' embossed on the front. Murmuring about a need for glitter he flicked to this week and wrote his name under Monday.

Suddenly he felt Howard's fingers tighten around his own, as he took the pen.

Howard leaned in and finally kissed Vince, feeling like he was going to die of happiness before reluctantly pulling back to write Vince's name on Tuesday too.

Vince grinned as Howard kissed him again then wrote his name on the next day, and the next day…only stopping to put his mouth near his ear, 'Vince' said Howard, sounding more serious than he ever had before and making Vince close his eyes feeling suddenly overwhelmed. 'You always were on every page'.

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